http://www.newtek.com/cool/staff/arnie/funthink-starwars.html (Amiga Plus Extra No. 5/97, 05/1997)Last Updated: 6/6/96
The astronomical price of freedom.
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) is being re-invigorated at a projected cost of billions of tax dollars. This program, scoffed at by the scientific community since its inception, was created as an economic weapon against the USSR. By pouring billions into elaborate technology that the Soviets couldn't hope to match, Star Wars would cripple the USSR and bring the economy crumbling down. Unfortunately, this kind of spending had a similar effect at home, and combined with the generous tax cuts the Reagan admininstration pushed through, created a massive federal deficit whose interest service is currently eating 30% of the federal budget.
Although the goals of the program have been successively scaled back from the patently absurd goal of an impenetrable shield over the US, to the more sustainable fiction of limited defense of strategic areas from isolated missiles, the program is still treated as a symbol of the good old days of invincible funding for cold warriors, and for Reagan himself. Like any good boondoggle, Star Wars has distributed itself through enough congressional districts to assure hearty support form congress. We hear alot of justification for the program, which has nothing to do with the compelling need for a missile defense for our children. This in itself is an indicator that the program is a sham. These reasons are often cited:
Jobs -- The program will create N new jobs in S districts, they say. This may be true, but if you count the jobs and economic growth claimed by these presumably optimistic figures, and divide by the program cost, you find that this is a very inefficient way of stmulating the economy and fighting unemployment. All the workers could earn many times their salaries for doing nothing, and save money. Better yet, they could be applying themselves to commercial innovations which can help many more citizens, which leads to a second argument for Star Wars.
Technology -- Government funded hi-tech programs create technologies which trickle down to the public, and help the economy. Often an example will be cited of some product or technology (a laser proably) which was initially developed under Star Wars funding. Again the claim may be true, but the efficiency with which the technology was produced will prove absurd. In addition, the political nature of the program meant that scientists were strongly reminded that slanting their proposals toward some of the pet technologies of SDI would assure them a spot on the federal gravy train. Thus although their research priorities were distorted, and their beaurocratic cost multiplied, they managed to do useful work while spending Star Wars dollars. The program worked to the extent that it was abused.